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E  EC   BACK    COVE  FJ 


FRANK  HEDLEY 

GEN'L  MANAtiEK. 


PARSONS 

.INEEH. 


AUG.  BELMONT, 

CAPITALIST. 


B.  McDONALD, 

CONTRACTOR. 


STATISTICS. 

Ultimate  cost  of  planned  construction  #60,000,000 
Length  of  main  line  (City  Hall  to  104th  St.)  7  miles 
West  branch  (104th  St.  to  Kingsbridge)  7 
East  branch  (104th  St.  to  Bronx  Park)  7 

Brooklyn  extension  ^l/2 

Total,  including  all  extensions  planned  45 

Single  track  railroad  in  same  135 

Tracks  in  main  line  _  4 

"      "  east  branch  tunnel  2 

11      "  west     "        11   2 

"    on  viaducts  3 

Steel  used  in  tracks,  tons  10,000 

"      "     "  other  construction,  tons  70,000 

Pounds  per  yard  of  rails  100 

Dynamos  in  power  house  9 

Capacity  of  each,  kilowatts  5000 

Total  horse  power  120,000 

Capacity  coal   bunkers,  tons  25,000 

Cost  of  power  house  and  equipment  #7,000,000 

Motors  in  5-car-trains  3 

Motors  in  8-car-trains  5 

Speed  per  hour,  miles: 

Local  trains  (5  cars)  28 

Express  "    18  cars)  16 


STATIONS. 

City  Hall. 

*  Brooklyn 
Bridge. 

Worth  Street. 

Canal  Street. 

Spring  Street. 

Bleecker  Street. 

Astor  Place  (8th 
Street.) 

•14th  Street. 

1 8th  Street. 

23rd  Street. 

28th  Street. 

33rd  Street. 

*42d  St.&  Madi- 
son Ave. 

42nd  St.  and 
Broadway. 

50th  Street. 


Opened  Oct.  27,  1904. 

59th  Street. 
66th  " 
•72nd  " 
70th  " 
86th  " 

QlSt  " 
*q6th  " 
104th  " 
110th  " 
116th  " 
Manhattan 

Street. 
137th  Street. 
145th  Street. 


'  Express 
Stations. 


LEWIS  B.  STILL  WELL, 

ELECTRICIAN. 

HISTORY. 

First  Commission  appointed  by  Mayor  Hugh  J. 
Grant,  April  q,  1800. 

Commission  recommended  4-track  tunnel  July 
16,  1890. 

Plans  for  same  submitted  and  approved,  Oct. 

21  '8qi.  .  .     .  ... 

No  bids  for  franchise  being  received,  municipal 
ownership  was  decided  by  popular  vote,  132,64710 
42.916,  Nov.  6,  1894. 

In  1894,  new  Commission  appointed,  who  pre- 
pared a  contract;  approved  Aug.  10,  1899.  This 
memorable  contract,  about  #36,000.000,  awarded 
to  John  B.  McDonald,  and  signed  Feb.  24,  1000. 

Construction  formally  begun  by  Mayor  Van 
Wyck  turning  a  spadeful  of  earth  ( place  marked  by 
bronze  tablet),  Mar.  24,  iopo. 

Brooklyn  Extension  route  (from  City  Hall  via 
Broadway  and  tunnel  at  South  Ferry)  adopted 
Sept.  27.  1900. 

Brooklyn  Extension  contract,  $3,000,000,  signed 
Sept.  11.  1902. 

Official  inspection  train,  City  Hall  to  Harlem, 
J  n    1 .  1 9^4 . 

Opened  lor  public  traffic.  City  Hall  to  145th  St., 
Oct.  27,  1904- 


SIGNING  THE  MEMORABLE  CONSTRUCTION  CONTRACT  FOR  *35.OOO,O0O,  FEB.  24,  1900. — At  head  of  table  is  Pres.  A.  E.  Orr: 
at  right,  John  B  McDonald,  B.  S.  Coler,  Mayor  R.  A.  Van  Wyck,  Aug.  Belmont,  M.  K.  Jesup:  at  left  J.  H.  Starin,  W.  Langdon,  John  Whalen: 
at  end,  C.  S.  Smith  and  Geo.  L.  Rives;  standing,  Wm.  B.  Parsons,  R.  A.  C.  Smith,  B.  L.  Burrows,  D.  Nicoll,  E.  M.  Shepard,  Perry  Belmont,  etc. 


„  ■  U.„U~00»  f.  r  r<^-  »  ...»  ...» 

INTER  BO  ROUGH   "SUBWAY"   INSPECTION  TRIP.    January  loth.  1904. 


CAPITALISTS'  TRIP,  JAN.  19,  1Q04.  Many  MULTIMI1.LIONAXRSS.  representing  POUR  nil. lions.  Aug.  Belmont.  Geo.  J.  Gould.  A.  J.  Ca«aatl, 
lacob  H.  Schiff,  James  Speyer,  Val.  P.  Snyder,  George  W.  Young,  J.  L)  Rockefeller,  Jr  ,  Frederick  Cromwell,  R.  H  McCurdy,  Cor.  Vanderbilt,  etc. 


SUBWAY  PORT/ ONS  SHOWA/  THI/.5 


VIADUCT 


M  operating  details  throughout  are  of  the  highest  order.  The  "  tunnel  "  is  in  part  open-air  travel,  from  123rd  to  135th  St.  and  all  north  of  194th  St.,  and  on  east  branch 
uvii  i' lA  miles  (including  Brooklyn  extension)  for  one  five-cent  fare.    Daily  north  and  south  travel  in  Manhattan  (all  railroads)  averages  900,000  passengers  each  way. 


New  York's  Subway  Rapid  Transit:   The  Underground  Railway 


The  completion  of  the  "subway"  or  underground  rapid- 
transit  sys  em  marks  one  of  the  greatest  of  human  achievements. 
Discussed  for  many  years  and  repeatedly  pronounced  impractic- 
able, the  courage,  skill  and  energy  of  a  few  men  have  conquered  all 
obstacles,  and  the  accomplished  fact  challenges  universal  wonder. 

The  financial  problem,  involving  upwards  of  $50,000,000, 
was  met  by  municipal  ownership,  approved  by  popular  vote. 
To  avoid  lnlringement  of  individual  propeity  rights  required  the 
highest  legal  talent.  Engineering  and  construction  difficulties 
were  successfully  met.  Danger  to  abutting  buildings  had  to  be 
considered  at  every  step.  Besides  dealing  with  innumerable  gas 
and  water  pipes,  electrical  conduits  and  pneumatic  tubes,  long 
sections  of  sewers  and  pipes  required  moving,  rebuilding  and 
grade-al  eration.  Quicksands  and  underground  streams  were 
encountered.  Solid  rock  in  great  stretches  had  to  be  blasted. 
Miles  of  electrical  street  railways  were  undermined  without 
accident  or  the  stoppage  of  a  car.  The  Columbus  monument  at 
59th  Street,  weighing  724  tons,  presented  extraordinary  difficulties, 
but  remains  as  stable  as  if  solid  rock  still  stood  beneath  it. 

The  route  cf  the  Rapid  Transit  Subway  is :  1 .  From  City 
Hall  (Brooklyn  Bridge)  north  on  Elm  Street  and  Lafayette  Place 
to  4th  Avenue,  at  8th  Street ;  up  4th  Avenue  to  42nd  Street ; 
west  to  Broadway;  then  north  on  Broadway,  1 1th,  Naegle  and 
Amsterdam  Avenues  to  Kingsbridge.  2.  At  Broadway  and 
104th  Street  begins  the  east  branch  :  East  to  Central  Park,  under 
the  Park  to  I  1 0th  Street  and  Lenox  Avenue,  north  on  Lenox 
Avenue  to  141st  Street,  then  east,  under  Harlem  River,  to  and 
through  Bronx  Borough,  ending  at  Bronx  Park.  3.  Extensions 
north  are  planned  ;  and  an  extension  south  to  Brooklyn  is  now 
well  under  construction.    The  portion  opened  to  the  public 


October  27,  1904,  is  that  from  City  Hall  north  to  145th  Street. 

The  cars  (lighted  by  electricity)  are  propelled  by  the  third- 
rail  e'ectric  system.  Speed  will  average  16  miles  per  hour  for 
local  (5-car)  trains,  and  25  to  30  miles  per  hour  for  expresses 
(8  cars).  The  power-house,  at  I  Ith  Avenue  and  59th  Street, 
is  the  largest  in  the  world.  It  covers  an  entire  block,  700  x  200 
feet,  double  the  size  of  the  plot  of  Madison  Square  Garden. 
There  are  six  smoke-stacks,  265  feet  high,  and  nine  8,000-horse- 
power  engines,  driving  dynamos  of  enormous  capacity.  Coal- 
bunkers,  distributed  overhead  in  the  boiler-room,  can  store 
25,000  tons,  a  month's  supply. 

The  construction  of  a  work  so  vast  in  4/^  years  is  unprece- 
dented. The  first  spadeful  of  earth  was  turned  at  City  Hall  by 
Mayor  Robert  A.  Van  Wyck,  March  24,  1900.  During  ten 
years  prevous  various  steps  in  legislation  and  formation  of 
commissions  had  been  taken,  and  the  names  of  public-spirited 
men  who  took  part  in  those  preliminaries,  under  circumstances  of 
great  discouragement,  would  make  a  long  roll  of  honor.  Some 
have  not  lived  to  see  the  fruition  of  their  labor,  notably  Abram 
S.  Hewitt  and  William  Steinway.  The  Rapid  Transit  Com- 
mission, as  now  constituted,  comprises ;  Alexander  E.  Orr, 
President ;  John  H.  Starin,  Vice-President ;  Woodbury 
Langdon,  Charles  Stewart  Smith,  Morris  K.  Jesup,  John  Claflin  ; 
Bion  L.  Burrows,  Secretary.  Chief  engineer,  Wm.  Barclay 
Paisons ;  Assistant,  George  S.  Rice.  Builder,  John  B. 
McDonald.  The  President  of  the  construction  and  operating 
companies  is  August  Belmont,  who  is  in  fact  the  financier  and 
backer  of  the  whole  enterprise. 

To  these  men  and  many  of  their  associates  New  Yorkers 
owe  a  great  and  lasting  obligation. 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


